Pride Month Day 13: Pride Brings Down Kings

     For today's Pride Month post, I am going to do something slightly different and use two passages, albeit from the same book of the Bible (specifically, the Book of Daniel). The Bible reveals that the pride of great leaders like kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers and so on can bring them down. In the case of Nebuchadnezzar, one of the great kings of ancient Babylon, the fall that resulted from his pride was spectacular indeed. He lost his sanity for a while, although it was then restored to him. When you witness the lunacy that is now part and parcel of daily life (such as people being censured for stating basic biological facts or using standard phrases like "Ladies and gentlemen"), it seems like the pride of people today is being judged in a somewhat similar fashion. Anyway, the first passage I am going to quote is an observation by Nebuchadnezzar after he got his sanity back, then some follow-up remarks by Daniel when he was addressing Belshazzar, the successor to Nebuchadnezzar.

    "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase." (Daniel 4:37)

    "O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will." (Daniel 5:18-21)

     Let's have a look at what Nebuchadnezzar said. Notice that he speaks of "those who walk in pride". When the Bible talks of "walking in" something, it means doing it habitually. If you are literally walking, you are moving along steadily in a particular direction. You may not be moving very fast, but you're progressing steadily all the same. There are a number of Scriptures that command us to walk in God's ways or His statutes. Conversely, the lost are said to "leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness" (Proverbs 2:13). Somebody walking in pride is just constantly proud, and pride governs everything they do - their hopes and dreams, how they interact with others, how they view God, how they see their sin (or more often, don't see it) and so on. They think very highly of themselves, and often have a low opinion of those around them (including those they flatter). Nebuchadnezzar was certainly someone who used to walk in pride. So much so that he had a large statue built (of himself I think) and made it a law of the land that everyone should worship it! But God humbled him by causing him to lose his sanity for a period of time, and when he recovered again, he was a changed man. The same God who could humble a king as powerful and arrogant and Nebuchadnezzar can humble anyone who "gets too big for their boots". Indeed, there were other proud people in the Bible who were humbled by God in a variety of ways, and some of them (like Haman, Jezebel and one of the Herods) died humiliating deaths.When you are ruled by your pride rather than by God's Spirit, you are heading for a very great fall.

    The second passage makes it clear that pride, like other sins, stems from the heart. Nebuchadnezzar's heart was "lifted up". James says, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." (James 4:10) But people who walk in pride lift themselves up in their hearts. See also how pride is a sin of the mind. Proud people tend to have their minds full of high and lofty thoughts. Indeed, let's have a look at the state of Nebuchadnezzar's mind when it was hardened in pride: "The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:30) See how Nebuchadnezzar's focus was entirely on himself. This is how it is with proud people. As Christians, however, we learn not to entertain such lofty thoughts: "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5) But those who walk in pride do not want to cast down lofty imaginations that exalt themselves against God. On the contrary, they entertain them and act upon them. But take note, the God who can humble kings, presidents or other great leaders who become excessively proud can also humble you. However, because He is gracious, he gives you some time to repent. But you don't know how long it might be before He decides to humble you, or when your appointed time to die comes. Right now, in your pride, you may think you are invincible, but it is often those who feel the most untouchable who are ripe for the hardest falls. So before God humbles you (and one way or another, it will happen someday), humble yourself before Him in repentance and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. You may still say, "Never!", but the day will come when the knees of even the most unrepentant proud people will bow to Christ and confess Him as Lord. So make wise use of the time God has given you now to get right with him, because you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Pride Month Day 12: Pride Leads to Shame

     For today's Pride Month study, I am going back to the Old Testament, and specifically, the Book of Proverbs (which is my favourite book of the Bible - I just love all the pearls of wisdom it contains. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole Bible, but Proverbs is a book I am particularly fond of). Here it comes:

    "When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom." (Proverbs 11:2)

     A major reason why shame tends to follow pride is that pride tends to make people do stupid and foolish things. For example, a person's pride may make them think that they can drive recklessly without consequences - until they crash and injure or kill themselves. Or perhaps they might fall for a con because in their pride, they thought they couldn't be deceived (con artists can sometimes play up to vanity as well). Another way in which pride may cause shame is if somebody boasts about something and then the opposite happens. For example, in the 1970s English cricket captain Tony Grieg (who later became a commentator on Australia's Channel 9) bragged that he would make the touring West Indian team "grovel". The West Indies went on to win every Test of the series. By the last game, Grieg himself was "grovelling" to the West Indian supporters in the crowd! So at least he took his embarrassment with good grace, but the fact remains that in his pride, he made a fool of himself and was comprehensively humbled. Many false preachers, especially in the Charismatic movement, have made decidedly boastful "prophecies" and then been exposed as charlatans when they did not come to pass. Another example of pride preceding shame is when a person talks up their righteousness and then gets exposed as an adulterer or some such. For example, a few years ago in New Zealand we had a party called the Christian Heritage Party. It went through a few leaders, but its last leader before it broke up was Graham Capill. He was a great moral campaigner and once stirred up popular anger by calling homosexuals perverts. While this description was actually correct, Capill was subsequently exposed as a child abuser and convicted on several counts. So he was a pervert himself, just a different kind. Before his fall, there was a self-righteous air about him that was evidence of pride in his heart, and that pride certainly resulted in great shame for him.

    One way in which pride has come before shame in my own life is that sometimes, I have had a tendency to be a "sore loser" in competitive situations. Instead of being gracious in defeat, sometimes I have behave petulantly. The core reason for this was pride, and specifically, wounded pride. And often on such occasions, I would be reprimanded (rightly so!), and thereby would feel ashamed and come down off my high horse. The point is though that pride motivated that disagreeable behaviour on my part and led to shame when people got angry with me (with complete justification). There have been times too when I have corrected somebody only to discover that I had misunderstood them or misread their comment. In my pride, I thought they just weren't very bright and needed my "wisdom", but I ended up looking the fool I was acting like.

    Speaking of wisdom, notice who has it in this verse. Not the proud, but the LOWLY. The "lowly" are quite simply those who are humble in spirit. When people are humble (which comes after repentance of sins towards God), He graciously grants them wisdom. The lowly know what their limits are, and when to keep quiet. If they do speak up, they know how to speak with grace, even though some of what they say may be seasoned with salt. The lowly may sometimes be mocked by the proud, but they will never experience the shame that always follows pride sooner or later. The world might set great store by pride, but the wisdom that the lowly can obtain is of far greater value. In fact, in God's eyes, pride has no value at all. Solomon understood the value of true godly wisdom, and I'll close this post with his counsel about it: 

    "Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee." (Proverbs 4:5-9)

Pride Month Day 11: Pride Is One of the Building Blocks of the World System

     When the Bible talks about "the world", or "this world", it usually means the world system that is part and parcel of the world we currently live in. The spiritual head of this world system is the Devil, who is called "the prince of this world" three times in the Gospel of John. The world, in this sense, is not the same as the earth, although there are other contexts in which "world" and "earth" would be synonymous (e.g. going on a journey "around the world" means travelling around the earth). God created the earth we all inhabit, and it belongs to Him. "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." (1 Corinthians 10:26) However, the Word of God makes it very clear that God and the world (as in the system ruled by Satan) are diametrically opposed. For example, James says, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:4) The opposition between God and the world is such that to be friends with the world (which basically means conforming to its customs and values) is to be enemies with God. That is how opposed they are.

    Another passage that shows the sharp distinction between God and the world is the one we're going to look at for Day 11 of this blog's Pride Month series. This passage comprises two verses, and the second verses lays out the "building blocks" of the world system. It shows the main spiritual foundations of the world. And guess what? One of those foundations is pride.

    "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:15-16)

     James tells us not to be friends with the world. John goes a step further and tells us not to love the world. Whereas James says that friendship with the world puts you at enmity with God, John says that if you love the world, you don't have the love of the Father in you (and if that is the case, you're not saved, which puts you in the enemy camp). Then John gives us those three key building blocks. Firstly, the lust of the flesh (such as illicit sexual desire, or cravings for food, alcohol, drugs and so on). Then comes the lust of the eyes (coveting beautiful things, or ogling a seductively-dressed woman and suchlike). Last but most assuredly not least, we have the pride of life. And that is what we're going to delve into a little more closely now. But the first important thing to note about it is that like the other two "building blocks", it is not of God, but of the world.

     Pride is at the heart of so much that goes on in the world. Think about sports for instance. What do athletes feel when they win an Olympic gold medal? PRIDE. What do the people of that athlete's country feel about it? PROUD. There may be other emotions, but pride is the foundational one. When an actor or actress wins an Oscar, or Emmy, or BAFTA, or Logie, or some such prestigious award, their main emotion is pride. Likewise if a musician wins a Grammy. The people who make the most obscene amounts of money in the world are often ones who either entertain us (fulfilling the lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes in the process) or who make us proud. In the case of many sports stars, they may both entertain AND make us proud. When you think about it, it's actually quite ridiculous that people can get paid millions of dollars just for throwing or kicking a ball around. Sure, some of them may be rather good at it, but at the end of the day, they're just playing a game. Yet they get paid these absurd sums to do so. But when they win that coveted trophy like the World Cup or Super Bowl, or a Grand Slam event, or whatever it might be, everyone gets a lovely big "pride fix". The fans of the victorious individual or team can bask in the reflected glory and get a huge feel-good dose of pride. (Of course, the fans of the losing team often feel sad and angry, and some even riot due to wounded pride.) And really, it is for their ability to provide this pride fix which people crave like a drug that these elite athletes earn their millions. The world worships such people. Why? It's not like a lot of them are even very good people. In fact, you don't have to look far to find all sorts of stories about wicked sins that elite athletes and entertainers have got up to. Well, the real reason the world loves these people so much is because of all the pride they generate when they succeed. Being able to feel proud matters an extraordinary amount to people in the world. The world is addicted to pride the way many people get addicted to drugs and alcohol. In many ways, pride IS the world's drug.

     Many of our hopes and dreams also have a basis in pride. I once entertained fantasies of being a best-selling author. Pride was at the root of that dream. I am sincerely glad nowadays that I did not succeed (because I did actually write a couple of books, and I genuinely enjoy writing). Had I achieved the fame I dreamed of, I shudder to think how puffed up that might have made me. Other people dream of being TV stars, or rock stars, or elite sportspeople, or company CEOs, or being elected Prime Minister or President. Some of these dreams are sincere, while others may be idle fantasies (I will admit that while I have no intention of running for office, I have entertained a few "What would I do if I were Prime Minister" daydreams.) Other dreams may be slightly less lofty, but there could still be a pride element to them. Even in our hobbies, there can often be pride involved. For example, people who collect things (looking in the mirror here) can become proud about the size of their collections or about rare items in their collections (guilty). Or when people play games, they often get into arguments, essentially because one person's pride is hurt due to losing. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that so much of what we dream about or actually do has pride at its very core. However, if you look at the true saints in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, what was their main desire in life? To SERVE GOD and DO HIS WILL. They were no longer motivated by their own pleasure or pride, but by pleasing God. This is one of the biggest points of difference between loving God and loving the world. When you love God, you seek His will and His glory. When you love the world, you seek your own will and your own glory, because in a lost state, your pride is the thing that matters most to you.

    One thing I have noticed about all the pride that's in the world is that people often care more about their image than about right or wrong. Or they care more about the image of their idol. From my recent reading of two books by Lady Colin Campbell, I have learned that the British aristocracy has a code that "it doesn't matter what you do, but what you are seen to be doing". In other words, to them it does not matter if you commit fornication or adultery, or some other sin, just don't let it become public knowledge. The Royal Family operates like this too. This wicked way of thinking is really rooted in pride. To be caught in a sin and have it publicly exposed means shame and humiliation. That hurts the pride. Rather than repent of their sins, these people prefer to cover them up and put up a front so they can keep looking good on the outside. Sadly, many professing Christians are like those aristocrats. They put up a holy and righteous front to appear good in front of others, but behind closed doors, they are as wicked as any unsaved person (because they're actually unsaved themselves). Jesus describes such people as follows: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." (Matthew 23:27) They are like that, essentially, because of their pride. They would rather put up an appearance of being righteous than actually be righteous. When they appear good, other people praise them. That in turn inflates their pride. Which is what they really want. They want to receive praise and glory from men.

    Anyway, there is much more I could say, but I am trying to keep these Pride Month posts reasonably short. But the purpose of today's post has been to show how pride is actually one of the key building blocks of Satan's world system. It underscores an enormous amount of the world's most prized activities. Pride has no place in the Kingdom of God. A key building block of the latter is humility. The Lord Jesus Christ was humble during His time on earth, and we should follow His example. One of the key aspects of Christ's humility was that He sought His Father's will and not His own, and that is how we should also live as Christians. Instead of asking, "How will doing this make me look better before others?", we should ask, "What would the Lord have me do, and will this thing I want to do please Him?" Be clothed in humility instead of wearing pride like a loud and ostentatious shirt. I'll leave you with this from Peter: "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)

Pride Month Day 10: Don't Hang Out with Proud People

     Psalm 101 is a kind of "resolution Psalm", because in it, David makes a whole lot of resolutions about how he is going to live his life as a man of God. Among other things, he resolves to sing of mercy and judgement to the Lord, behave wisely and walk in his house with a perfect heart, set no wicked thing before his eyes, not associate with wicked people, employ faithful people, not associate with liars and swiftly punish evildoers. (Remember that David was a king and so had lawful authority to do that last thing.) This Psalm gives Christians plenty of food for thought, especially Verse 3, which talks about not setting wicked things before our eyes. Also, the Psalm has several things to say about the kinds of people that Christians should avoid associating with. Now when I say that, I mean have close fellowship with. Obviously, you have to talk to people to witness to them, and you can't avoid doing business with unbelievers. However, merely going to a shop that happens to be owned by an unbeliever and buying something from them does not constitute fellowship. You might make a little small talk with them, especially if you are a regular customer, but that is still not fellowship as such. David gives an example of fellowship in Verse 7: "He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." (Psalm 101:7) When you fellowship with people and have close association with them, that often involves them coming to your house, or you going to theirs. You see them at close quarters on a regular basis, and in that sense, they tarry in your sight. In more modern parlance, they're people you "hang" with.

    The verse we're going to examine today provides another type of person that Christians should not "hang" (or "hang out") with. This is part of the Pride Month series, so you can probably already guess where this is going:

    "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer." (Psalm 101:5)

    Actually, there are two kinds of people mentioned there, but obviously, I want to focus on the second. Briefly on the first: people who privily (secretly) slander their neighbours are what the Bible calls talebearers. In more modern terms, they're gossips. But the kind of gossip they spread is both malicious and untrue. Now there are times when evil needs to be exposed in order to hold a perpetrator accountable and provide justice to those who have been wronged. There are also times when exposing particular evils is in the public interest. However, people who gossip are not interested in exposing evil. They don't care about justice or what is best for society. They just want to stir up trouble, and this is what the Bible condemns. The thing about slander is that it involves false accusation. Here is a simple example of the difference between legitimate exposure of evil and malicious slander. Legitimate exposure: "John's daughter has just come to me and told me that he beat her up. There are clear marks and bruises on her body and I think we need to call the police." In this hypothetical case, John has done an evil thing to his daughter. She has confided in a trusted neighbour, and that neighbour consults with another person about what to do next. In this case, the neighbour is not gossiping or slandering, but trying to do the right thing to protect an innocent girl from further harm. Now for an example of malicious slander: "Hey, guess what? I saw Jim getting pretty cosy with his daughter the other day. They were hugging and stuff. Very suss. Spread the word". In this case, Jim is a normal father expressing normal affection for his daughter. There is nothing untoward about what he is doing, but in the mouth of a slanderer, it could easily be turned into something it's not. The motive of this person is to make trouble for Jim and make an innocent person appear guilty of something they wouldn't dream of doing. A person who behaves like this is someone to steer well clear of. Besides, if they slander other people to you, one day they will slander you to other people as well.

     OK, now to examine the second kind of person to stay away from. David says that he will not suffer (allow or tolerate) people with a high look and a proud heart. A "high look" basically means a haughty or lofty expression. We have all seen people with what you might call smug facial expressions. They look like they're full of their own importance and consider themselves to be Very Important. It is this type of expression, which conveys smugness and arrogance, that could be termed a "high look". In this case, such a look reflects pride in the heart. And someone who has such a degree of pride in their heart that it's written all over their face is not someone that a Christian should be associating with.

     Why should Christians stay away from proud people? Well for one thing, the Bible is clear that God wants us to be humble. Even in our saved condition, humility does not tend to come naturally to us (because of the corrupt body we still inhabit), which is why the Bible regularly tells us to humble ourselves. But if you're always hanging out with proud people, it can be contagious. The Bible warns us, "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners" (1 Corinthians 15:33). In other words, if you have regular fellowship with someone who is proud, arrogant, boastful etc., it will rub off on you sooner or later. There is a well-known idiom, "Birds of a feather flock together". A saved Christian and an unsaved proud person are not "birds of a feather". So you won't be able to "flock together" for very along, unless you make yourself more like them. Which is often what happens. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we tend to copy the behaviours and attitudes of people we fellowship with to make them like us more. But if you copy someone's pride and arrogance, that is going to corrupt your Christian manners. It will adversely affect your testimony and displease God, resulting in chastening.

    We cannot avoid proud people altogether, but we should avoid fellowship with them. Not only unsaved ones either. Sometimes born-again Christians can get pride in their hearts, and until they repent of that, they are not good company to keep either.

Pride Month Day 9: God Will Silence All Proud Tongues Someday

     Two books in the Bible that have quite a lot to say about pride are Psalms and Proverbs (although there are plenty of other books in God's Word that deal with it as well). For today's Pride Month devotion, I am going to turn once again to the Book of Psalms. Here is the passage we'll be examining:

    "The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?" (Psalm 12:3-4)

     A tongue that speaks proud things is essentially a tongue that boasts. Many people brag to glorify themselves. They don't always brag directly about themselves though. For instance, a mother who boasts about her child's proficiency in something is still glorifying herself indirectly, because the child's accomplishments reflect on her as a mother. So with her words she might say, "My son is the smartest boy in the school!" or "My daughter is the best dancer in her ballet school!", but behind that, her meaning is, "I'm such a great mother to have raised kids as brilliant as these". In fact, parents who push their children into certain things and drive them to win are doing to because they want the reflected glory of their child's achievements. Or when somebody boasts about their sports team, they are indirectly glorifying themselves by dint of being a supporter of that team. They want some of the team's glory to rub off on them. Why do people get so wildly excited when their team wins a major championship? Because as supporters, the team's glory rubs off on them, and they want to bask in that vicarious glory. Conversely, you see people getting angry when their team loses an important game because of wounded pride. Now the team's shame is also reflected on them to some extent, and that hurts their pride. Moreover, the supporters of the other team can now gloat over them. More injury to pride.

    However, plenty of people also do talk themselves up. The late boxer Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) uttered one of the most famous boasts of modern times when he said simply, "I'm the greatest!" When the Washington Redskins won the 1983 Super Bowl against the Miami Dolphins, running back John Riggins, that year's Super Bowl MVP, said in an interview after the game, "Ron (Reagan) may be President, but I'm the king". Donald Trump was renowned for his boasting while President of the United States. On Fox and Friends for instance, he said, "I would give myself an A+" when asked for an assessment of his presidency. Concerning COVID-19, he said in January 2020, "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China. It's going to be just fine." (That one certainly didn't age well.) He had a rather high opinion of his intelligence too, saying on one occasion, "Sorry, losers. My IQ is the highest and you all know it." And that is just scratching the surface of all the boastful things Mr Trump has said about himself. You may chuckle reading some of these quotes, but God is not amused by such bragging, because all pride is offensive to Him.

    A more 21st-Century version of boasting is virtue signalling. For example, "I stopped eating meat because I really care about climate change". (The logic of that being, meat comes from cows, cows break wind, this contributes to the "carbon footprint", and basically we're all going to die in a few years because all those cows passing wind are going to cause catastrophic changes to the climate. Never mind that cows have been around for over 6,000 years now, and the earth has remarkably managed to survive their flatulence all this time.) Or the trend of "taking a knee", which is a way of saying "I'm against racism". However, it is also a way of saying "What a good person I am - please admire me for my stand against racism". Virtue signalling is not only a form of boasting, but very often involves hypocrisy. But in any case, the aim is to make oneself appear righteous before men and thereby receive their applause. While the term virtue signalling is not in the Bible, the concept certainly is. "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward." (Matthew 6:1-2) Verse 2 is where we get the term "blowing your own trumpet", which is exactly what virtue signalling is. Pride underscores every act of virtue signalling. It's all about putting up a front of righteousness in front of men: "And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:15) Virtue signallers, you might be able to impress other people (although many can see through it), but God knows the true state of your hearts and what your real motives are.

    There will come a time, however, when God is going to silence all tongues that speak proud things. Also note what is said about "flattering lips". Just as the Bible does not have one good word to say about pride, it also has nothing good to say about flattery. The thing about flattery is that it is insincere. "They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak." (Psalm 12:2) People who flatter say one thing, but in their hearts they have another agenda altogether. "A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet." (Proverbs 29:5) One of the things flattery does is inflate pride. A person who has their pride inflated by flattery will tend to like the flatterer as a result. Consequently, they will be more inclined to trust the flatterer, and then the flatterer will have that person where they want them. In reality, flattery is bait to lead you into a trap. And what makes you take that deadly bait? PRIDE. Don't fall for it.

    Notice that proud people believe their words alone will give them some sort of victory, and sadly they are often right. Why do people believe so many lies today? Because of the WORDS spoken by proud people who say, "Who is lord over us"? Such people answer to no one but themselves. In the end however, they will answer to God for all their bragging, and flattering, and evil words. When they stand before the Great White Throne to give account for everything they have said and done, their boasting mouths will be stopped. All their bragging that has so impressed men will count for nothing when they stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a person with a tongue that speaks proud things, repent and believe on Christ today. Turn your boasting into cries for mercy. Use your tongue to praise God instead of yourself. Humble yourself before God while there is still time, because one day, regardless of how much bragging you do, your time will be up. Which is now also the case with this post.

Pride Month Day 8: People's Pride Deceives Them

     As we embark upon the second week of Pride Month, let's take a look at a passage that highlights a major reason why people are deceived: pride in their hearts.

    "The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD." (Obadiah 1:3-4)

     If you wonder how people can believe all sorts of falsehoods, and be lured into all manner of crazy cults, and also how they often seem to refuse to see reason even when you lay everything out clearly for them, the Bible has the answer. The simple reason why so many people are so incredibly blind is because of pride in their hearts. Actually, pride in the heart can sometimes be a hindrance to born-again Christians too. Thanks be to God, we have spiritual understanding and discernment that we lacked prior to salvation, but that does not mean we can't be deceived. Indeed, there are a number of verses in the Bible that expressly command us not to be deceived! If it were no longer possible for us to be deceived after being saved and receiving the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, there would be no need for such commandments.

    The thing about pride is that it makes us think we know best, or at least better than the other person. So when someone comes along and says, "You're wrong about such-and-such", what tends to happen is that our pride gets wounded and then we retort, "No, I'M right and YOU'RE wrong!" I am being a bit simplistic, but these are the underlying attitudes of most religious arguments. In fact, this applies to pretty much any type of argument. Even when someone proves that their position is the correct one using reasoned arguments, logic and sound Scriptural references (if that someone is a Christian), pride will often make their opponent refuse to concede defeat. No matter how comprehensively their false doctrine has been proven as such, they find ways to cling onto it regardless. The problem at this point is not in the mind. It's the pride in the heart. That is what blinds people and keeps them in deception.

    Many false doctrines appeal to pride. A good example is works salvation. If you could actually be saved by your own works, you would have something to be proud of. And this is why many people who think they are saved by works are also extremely proud and self-righteous. Hence the Bible tells us, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) As beautiful a thing as salvation by grace is though, many people miss it because when you realise that salvation is a gift and there is nothing you yourself can do to earn it, your pride ends up getting hurt. You think, "Surely there must be something I can do to contribute to my own salvation!", and thereby you become vulnerable to all manner of heresy. This is what lures people into all sorts of false religions and cults. These things appeal to pride. And pride is what keeps them there too. After all, few things are guaranteed to hurt your pride more than to realise that you have been greatly deceived and perhaps even wasted a great deal of your life following that deception.

    Pride in the heart also often prevents people from seeing their own sin. Have you ever met someone who refused to admit that they were at fault for anything? Even when it was patently obvious that they were? I know I have. Let's be honest, all of us can be that person sometimes, but there are nonetheless people who take it to extremes, in that they really believe they are never in the wrong at any time. It always has to be someone else's fault. Or if there is nobody to blame, then it must be the fault of circumstances. But their fault? How dare you even think such a thing, let alone say it out loud! Such people are, quite simply, deceived by the pride in their hearts. They just have more pride than the average person, I think. However, even a person with only average pride will still struggle to get on their knees and confess their sins to God. So even if they don't have so much pride that they cannot see when they have wronged other people, they may still be blind to their lost condition and remain oblivious to how much they have wronged God. Incidentally, there are many verses in the Bible instructing us to humble ourselves. Humility is a prerequisite for approaching God. You must be like the publican in Luke 18 crying out to God for mercy, and not like the Pharisee in the same chapter boasting about all his good works. But the pride in our hearts bucks against being like that publican. Confessing that you are a sinner, and confessing specific sins, really knocks pride for a six (or if you're American, hits it out of the park). We all like to imagine we're good people, and so acknowledging our sinfulness and need for a Saviour, facing the reality that we cannot save ourselves, is a hard thing to do precisely because of our pride.

     As I said before, even when a person gets saved, pride can still be a problem sometimes. One of the ways in which a Christian can be uniquely affected by pride is when you study the Bible and God starts to reveal some truth to you. You grow in knowledge and understanding. This is a really good thing! However, if you're not on your guard, that knowledge can lead to pride. Indeed, the Bible warns us about this. "Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." (1 Corinthians 8:1-2) I love that last part. It is a good reminder that even when we do gain some understanding, we still know very little about God and His ways, really.

    Pride is also a hindrance to Christians when witnessing. It certainly has been to me. There have been times when, in my pride, I thought I could win someone to Christ by my powers of reasoning. I have actually thought that mere intellectual debate would do the job, not properly understanding the spiritual nature of it all. For example, I remember one time getting into quite a heated argument with a Mormon missionary who started on at me in the street, and you will not be surprised to learn that he did not get saved that day (although he didn't make me a Mormon either - it was a stalemate, basically). I have confessed it to God, and I confess it here, my attitude that day was frankly appalling. I was all puffed up and thought I knew it all, and that he was just not very bright for believing all that false Mormon doctrine. Indeed, part of the problem was that I thought I was cleverer than him and acted like a smug know-it-all. In this respect, frankly, I was no better that day than an atheist who scoffs at Christians and thinks themselves smart and rational, while they esteem the Christians to be gullible idiots who need the atheists to enlighten them. And why did I act like that? Because, pride. Which is also why scoffing atheists behave as they do.

    There have sadly been other times when the pride of my heart made a mockery of attempts to witness to people. But the Bible does give us guidance on the right way to witness. This passage in particular is key: "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." (2 Timothy 2:24-26)

    The word "strive" there means argue or quarrel. It is the verbal form of the noun strife. But while strife is still in fairly common use, strive has somewhat lost its old meaning and usually means something like "try really hard" nowadays. Mind you, the modern meaning has some application here too. Sometimes, you can try too hard to convince someone about the Gospel, and then striving in the older sense starts to happen. Closely related to strife is contention, and remember in a recent Pride Month post, I examined this verse in Proverbs: "Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom." (Proverbs 13:10) If you give into pride when witnessing, and the person you're witnessing to then gets puffed up in their own pride, contention and strife will soon follow.

    Now, when we witness, we are guaranteed to come up against this roadblock: pride in people's hearts. This pride will make them resist the Gospel message. But if, at this point, we let our own pride take over, the battle will be lost then and there. Which is why it is so important to preach MEEKLY. Whatever knowledge and understanding we may have, we must instruct MEEKLY, and be GENTLE in the process. Even then, there is no guarantee that the person we are witnessing to will be saved. The pride in their hearts may be too great. However, if we are meek and gentle in our witnessing, they may just begin to see the truth. If we obey God and stay humble, He may use our meek demeanour to break down the pride in the hearts of those we witness to, or those who scoff at us. But if we get prideful, even a person who might have been open to the Gospel when we started talking will get completely turned off Christianity, maybe even forever. Pride can be catching sometimes. When one person gets puffed up, the person they are debating with tends to do likewise.

    So if you have ever wondered why people seem to be so easily deceived, especially nowadays, well now you have your answer. It is because of the pride in their hearts. This pride makes the deception attractive in the first place, because the best deceptions usually appeal to pride in one form or another. It also makes people resistant to the truth of the Gospel, because to admit that your own belief system has been wrong and that you have lived your life based on lies is going to really, really hurt your pride. Admitting that you are a sinner deserving of God's judgement also stings the pride a lot, which is why so many don't want to ever make that confession. But pride can be a problem for Christians too sometimes, especially when witnessing. And just as pride in the heart leads to unbelievers being deceived, that same pride can cause Christians to be deceived by things as well if we're not careful.

    Essentially, the more humble you are, the more truth God can teach you. Staying humble can also help you guard against deception, because if you start allowing pride to take root in your heart rather than praying about it and confessing it whenever you detect it, your chances of being deceived will skyrocket, while your chances of winning any souls to Christ will plummet. So if you don't want to be deceived, crucify that pride daily!

Pride Month Day 7: Pride Will Bring You Down

     Wow, a week of June has gone already! It has been quite an eventful week for me, with a couple of refresher driving lessons followed by a tummy bug! (Praise God, I think I have now made a full recovery from the latter). However, this blog is really not about me, so I will cut the small talk and get on with today's Pride Month devotion. I have now managed a week of these - just another three weeks to go, the Lord willing. Today's key verse makes an interesting contrast between pride and humility:

    "A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit." (Proverbs 29:23)

     Many people, in their pride, seek elevation in life. They have ambitions to become company CEOs, or Prime Ministers, or Presidents, or whatever it might be. Or perhaps they want to be a star athlete, musician or actor. They may have lofty dreams of becoming a best-selling author (I had such a dream once). But whatever their ambition is, they are usually seeking their own glory. (Certainly, when I entertained fantasies of being a famous author, I was all about my own glory and puffing myself up.) Now some of these ambitious people succeed, and they may enjoy some worldly success and adulation for a while. But if pride is their primary motivation and driving force in life, sooner or later, they will be brought low. The Word of God teaches us: "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 14:11) There are no exceptions to this. And we see it play out time and again. Think of all the celebrities who have died premature deaths. Some died tragically, while others died sad and alone. Or celebrities who fell from grace after having some major sin of the past exposed. In the end, their pride brought them low.

    But anybody can be brought low by pride. God has many different ways of humbling those who exalt themselves. A few can be found in the Bible. Harking back to the first Pride Month post I did, consider the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. The men of Sodom were proud and haughty, just like the homosexuals of today. They committed abominable sin before God and were as bold as could be about it. Everything was out in the open in Sodom, just as it is today. Yet the fate of their city, along with Gomorrah and one or two others in the same area, was to be destroyed with fire and brimstone from God. In the end, their pride brought them low. The great empire of Egypt was brought low by the pride of its Pharaoh who refused to let the children of Israel go. It was initially brought low with plagues, and then brought even lower by the Egyptian army being drowned in the Red Sea. The Philistine giant Goliath was brought low - after all his boasting, he was killed by a boy with a slingshot. Haman, one of the most prideful men recorded in the Bible, was brought low by firstly having to honour the man he hated, and then by being hanged on his own gallows. And there are many other examples, mainly in the Old Testament, but also some in the New, of people being abased, or brought low, by their pride. Examples abound in real life too. Many tragedies have, in one way or another, been the result of pride, such as someone showing off to their friends by driving too fast, only to then lose control and suffer a terrible crash, or a person putting themselves in a precarious situation to take a selfie (solely to impress their friends or Instagram followers) and then falling to their death. Or, less sadly, a sportsperson or team losing to an opponent that no one thought had any chance of winning. (Have you ever noticed how many sportspeople will carefully avoid boasting about their prospects in an upcoming match and even talk up their opponent? In their conscience, they understand the principle of the humble being exalted and the proud being humbled, but they have probably also learned the hard way that arrogance and complacency is more likely to result in a shock defeat.)

    People who are proud often get ideas "above their station". And quite often, they will be put in their place, while other more humble people may be promoted above them. The Lord Jesus Christ gives an excellent illustration of this:

    "When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee." (Luke 14:8-10) 

    Among the things Jesus rebuked the prideful Pharisees for was that they "love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues" (Matthew 23:6). They loved those rooms and seats because sitting in them meant being admired by others. They were all about their own pride and their own glory.

    As I have touched on once or twice already in this Pride Month series, the enemy of both God and mankind, Satan, is also full of pride (this is why those who are still in his snare tend to proud in one way or another). But the Bible prophesies that in the end, he too will be brought low: "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." All proud people, if they do not repent, will be brought down to the same place. Incidentally, the Bible tells us exactly when Satan will be cast into Hell - it will be after the Millennium when Christ rules the earth. Satan will be released from the bottomless pit (where he will be locked up during the Millennium) and try to lead a worldwide rebellion against Christ, with the first one having failed at Armageddon (this will be the defeat of the Antichrist and False Prophet; Armageddon will end the Great Tribulation and usher in the Millennium). Of course, this final rebellion will be soundly defeated, just as the Armageddon one a thousand years earlier, and the prophecy in Isaiah will finally be fulfilled:

    "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (Revelation 20:10)

    This then will be the final end of Satan. This is where his pride will ultimately get him. It is where the pride of the Antichrist and False Prophet will get them too (albeit a thousand years earlier). And if you persist in your pride, sinner, you will end up being brought down as low as the Lake of Fire too. You may well be humbled in this life, but it is the humbling in eternity that you really have to worry about.

    But now let's look a bit at the second half of that verse, which talks of how honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. Those who seek God's glory rather than their own, and who do not actively seek honour, will often have it unexpectedly bestowed upon them. Joseph, for instance, had no ambitions to achieve a high role in the government of Egypt. Yet within the space of a few hours, he went from being a prisoner to the Pharaoh's second-in-command! Gideon was the least important member of a poor family, yet God chose him to deliver Israel from the Midianites. David was the youngest member of his family and looked after sheep, yet God made him Israel's greatest king. It should be noted also that when David had the opportunity to kill Saul, his predecessor, he did not do so, even though it would have meant that he would immediately become king. You see, David was motivated by a desire to serve God rather than his own ambition, so he was content to wait on God's timing. The humble in spirit in the Bible are also saved people who have repented and believed on Jesus. Their desire, as new creatures in Christ, is to serve God and please Him. Hence they no longer seek their own glory. But they will receive honour and glory anyway, although not always in this life. Many of them will go unsung until eternity, but others, like Joseph and David, may be elevated to positions of high honour and wealth in the present world too. And Christ Himself is the perfect illustration of the humble receiving honour. He humbled Himself to become a man, to live His life according to His Father's will, and to be crucified, but was then exalted when He rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven.

    So just as the final destiny of Satan shows us the ultimate end of pride, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ shows us the great reward of humility and putting God's will above ours. Those who live according to their pride will be brought low - with misfortune in this life and eternal damnation in the next. Born-again Christians who give in to pride (sadly, it can happen) don't have to worry about their eternal souls, but God can still bring them low in various ways as He chastens them for their sinful attitudes. But those who are truly humble in spirit, who seek God's glory and lay aside any ambitions for their own glory, will be upheld by honour. Just as God has all sorts of ways to humble the proud, so He also has many ways to honour the humble in spirit. Not only can the proud be surprised by the speed of their downfall, but the humble can also be surprised by the speed of their honour (Joseph being a case in point). The proud may prosper for a while, but sooner or later, they will be brought low. Repent and humble yourself today, because tomorrow might be the day God decides to bring you low!

Pride Month Day 6: Pride Causes Quarrels

     All of us, at one time or another, have found ourselves embroiled in a quarrel with somebody else. It might be a squabble with a sibling, disagreement with a parent (or child), argument with a spouse, dispute with a neighbour, disagreement with a colleague and so on. All too often, these quarrels can turn ugly as harsh words are spoken and even blows exchanged. Well, the cause of such quarrels is pride, as the verse for Day 6 of Pride Month reveals:

    "Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom." (Proverbs 13:10)

     The word contention basically means quarreling or strife. It occurs nine times in the King James Bible, and the verse I have just cited is the first place it occurs. Here are some of the other verses about contention to give you more of an idea of what the Bible means when it uses this word:

    "The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with." (Proverbs 17:14)

     "A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes." (Proverbs 18:6 - this relates to people who are always shooting their mouths off to pick a fight)

    "Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease." (Proverbs 22:10 - ugly arguments are often started by scorners, who are usually proud and haughty individuals)

    "Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention." (Habakkuk 1:3) 

     Now, not every conflict, or disagreement, or difference of opinion is wrong in and of itself. It is possible to have a perfectly civilised discussion with someone and yet still disagree on some things. Where people are prepared to be reasonable, you can disagree sometimes without a major drama eventuating.

    But if one or both parties involved in a disagreement lets pride take over (for example, if they adopt a "My way or the highway" attitude), that is where contention comes into play. There are also some people who start a fight for no good reason (which is what Proverbs 18:6 is about, and also the second part of Habakkuk 1:3). They waltz into a room and start taunting someone or hurling accusations. Or they post something provocative on an Internet forum (this is called "trolling"). Their purpose in doing so is to provoke a reaction from the other person and thereby start an argument. What underscores such behaviour? Quite simply, pride! When people are quarrelling, they often get puffed up. In fact, at the root of whatever else the strife is about, they are really trying to get one over on the other person. In their pride, their goal is not to reason, but to win. And if the other person is just as determined to win, then you have contention. 

    I have had my share of conflicts with different people over the years. And I can tell you that every time I got involved in a heated argument, it was because of my pride. I wanted to win. I wanted to be right. I wanted to show that other person how right I was and how wrong they were. And they wanted the same things. Hence, by the pride of us both came contention. Sometimes, I was provoked. The other person was in the wrong (at least, initially). But my reaction to the provocation, which then led to contention, was all down to my pride. I wanted to give the person who had provoked me a bit of their own medicine. And of course, in their pride, they kept on taunting, railing, accusing or just plain arguing. Aside from my own conflicts, I have witnessed others squabbling, and when I think back on those, I can see how the pride of everyone involved was at work. In fact, I probably saw it at the time for the most part (although I didn't always recognise the part my pride played in my own quarrels - after all, I was right and they were wrong, you know!). So the Bible is absolutely right (as indeed it is about everything). Pride really is the only source of contention among people. There may be other secondary causes (such as assorted lusts), but pride is the primary one.

     If pride is the reason for quarrels and squabbles, the way to reduce this in your life is by laying aside pride. The Bible contains a number of commandments for defusing contentious situations, and when you examine them carefully, you will see that obeying them requires you to swallow your pride:

    "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:43-45) 

    "But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." (Luke 6:27-31)

    "Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not." (Romans 12:14)

     "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." (Romans 12:17-18)

    "See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men." (1 Thessalonians 5:15)

    "Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing." (1 Peter 3:9)

    There are other verses besides (including some in the Old Testament), but these are enough to be going on with. A common theme that emerges is doing good to others, even when they are doing evil to you. Now, that tends to go against our human nature. When somebody wrongs us with an insult, false accusation or whatever, our first instinct is usually to try to get even. Why do we do that? Well, really, it comes down to pride. As often as not, our pride is wounded. But what God would have us to do is put our wounded pride to one side and do good to others anyway. In doing so, we reflect His nature. We have all sinned against God more than we know. He would have been perfectly justified in wiping us all out. Yet He has mercy on us and shows kindness even to those who hate Him by providing everyone with the same sunshine and rain. Moreover, it is not our place to take revenge. That is God's prerogative: "If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me." (Deuteronomy 32:41) "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." (Romans 12:19) There will come a day when God takes vengeance on all who have sinned and hated Him, and never repented. Which means that if someone has wronged us, God will deal with them should they not repent of their wrong. However, in our pride, we often usurp God's role by trying to get even ourselves. What often happens is that the other person will take revenge in turn, thereby creating a vicious cycle. I have certainly been guilty of vengeful actions (usually in the form of bitter words), and when I reflect upon those sins (for every time I tried to "get even" with someone, I sinned against the Lord), I would say that in every single case, pride was involved on my part. The wrong done to me hurt my pride, while "successful" revenge made me puffed up (until the other person got revenge in turn).

    It is certainly not always easy to do good to people who are being unkind to you. But if you can humble yourself and obey the Scriptures rather than your feelings (especially when they are running high), you will defuse many a potentially bad situation. You might even witness to the other person through your actions. Also, if you don't wrong them, they have nothing further to use as leverage against you. So whatever power they might have been trying to gain over you will be lost. Don't forget also that our real battle is not against flesh and blood - our war is a spiritual one. That is why we need to pray for people who are persecuting us. After all, Paul, when he was known as Saul, persecuted the Christian church, yet became one of the greatest evangelists in history after he was saved. You never know whether your prayers for an enemy could one day result in another Saul becoming a Paul.

    So to summarise: among the many evils pride produces, a major one is arguments and quarrels. As I said earlier, it is possible to disagree civilly and discuss things maturely. But when pride gets in the way, then you get ugly conflicts. If you are someone who seems to have a lot of conflict in your life, it may be that you have a few toxic people around you. But consider that perhaps your own pride has something to do with it. Lay aside your pride and start following the Scriptures instead of your passions, and you may just find that there will be a lot more peace in your life. But if you let your pride dictate the way you treat others, you will never have good relationships in your life. That doesn't mean you have to be a doormat or that you can't set boundaries, but even then, be as courteous and civil as you can. Remember as David did when he faced Goliath that ultimately, the battle is not yours, but God's.

Pride Month Day 5: Pride Precedes Destruction

     You have undoubtedly heard the saying, "Pride goes before a fall". That is one of the many expressions in the English language which comes from the King James Bible. However, it is a slight misquote. The verse from which this well-known idiom comes is our key verse for today's Pride Month post. Without further ado, here it is:

    "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)

     So as you can see, the idiom "Pride goes before a fall" is an edited version of this verse. It's really the first two words and the last three, while missing out the rest. But now let's examine the Biblical verse. The word destruction is often associated with eternal damnation (see for instance 2 Thessalonians 1:9; also Jesus talks of the wide gate and broad way leading to destruction, as opposed to the strait gate and narrow way leading to eternal life, so destruction certainly signifies damnation in that context). However, it can also mean something along the lines of ruin in this life (see for example 1 Timothy 6:9). But whether destruction is ruin in this life, or eternal ruin (depending on context), it is clear that it is a direct consequence of pride. A man or woman who is proud, and who lives by that pride, will end up in destruction, most likely of the eternal kind unless they repent of it. In the Day 3 post, I wrote a bit about Haman, the wicked Persian leader who wanted to kill all the Jews in the empire because one man refused to bow to him. He ended up being hanged on his own gallows. Pride certainly went before destruction in his case. The Philistine giant Goliath was also full of pride, and thought that a young David coming to fight him was a no-contest. David, however, was not relying on his physical strength alone to defeat Goliath. In his pride, Goliath trusted in his size, weapons and fighting prowess. But David trusted in God: "Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands." (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

    Notice that David was not taking on Goliath for his own glory. Had he been motivated by his pride, as his oldest brother Eliab falsely accused him of, he would have been crushed like a bug. But David was doing this to teach both the Israelite and Philistine armies a few things about God, in particular how He can deliver us and does not need carnal weapons to do so. David was motivated by God's glory, not his, and so God gave him the victory with a simple stone fired from a slingshot. (God often uses the seemingly weak and foolish to humble the proud and mighty.)

    An example in the New Testament of pride going before destruction is Herod in Acts 12. "And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost." (Acts 12:21-23)

    Herod was so full of his own importance that he was happy to be worshipped as a god. For this, he faced a devastating judgement. He went from pride to destruction in a matter of minutes! Incidentally, one thing this passage shows is that God is not pleased when we idolise politicians or celebrities, and give them worship that is due to Him alone. And no, this is not because it wounds His pride, because God has no pride, as I wrote about yesterday. But politicians and celebrities are fallen people like ourselves and are moreover created beings. Only our most holy and righteous Creator is worthy of worship. No sinful man or woman is. In any case, when you put people up on a pedestal, it only serves to inflate their pride. And that pride then finishes up in destruction. Small wonder that so many actors, rock stars and so on die tragic deaths before they reach old age. Their pride, fuelled by the foolish worship of their fans, propels them towards destruction in both this life and the next.

    Pride and destruction are quite general concepts in the Bible. Pride is a root cause (even the root cause) of pretty much every sin. For example, a man who commits fornication or adultery will be motivated by sexual lust, but there may also be an underlying pride in his sexual prowess or his ability to avoid detection. A woman who is obsessed with clothes and make-up (beyond the normal feminine interest in such things) is motivated by vanity, which is a form of pride. Someone who collects a lot of things will be motivated by covetousness, but underlying that will be pride in completing sets, owning rare objects and so on (I should know, I have been that person). Destruction refers to great ruin, especially eternal ruin in which the body and soul is destroyed in Hell. However, a "haughty spirit" and "a fall" are more specific things. A haughty spirit is a by-product of pride. If we picture pride as a tree, we could say that a haughty spirit is one of the fruits it produces.

    Someone who is haughty is usually a person who thinks extremely highly of themselves. They tend to be imperious, have a sense of entitlement and look down on others. Goliath was not only full of pride, but he had a haughty spirit. And that not only goes before a fall, but destruction in general: "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility." (Proverbs 18:12) So haughtiness, like other sins, is a heart issue. And if you have a haughty heart, that will manifest itself in your spirit and eventually, it will lead to a great fall and eternal destruction if it is not repented of. But the opposite of haughtiness is humility. And what does that result in? HONOUR. Most importantly, from God, but also sometimes, from man. Joseph (the Old Testament one) and Daniel were promoted to high honours in the courts of pagan kings because of their humility. They did not seek those honours, but were given them because those kings sensed the spirit they had. "And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?" (Genesis 41:38) The Babylonians were not quite as discerning as that pharoah, but nevertheless saw that Daniel had an excellent spirit, which they also described as "the spirit of the holy gods" (Daniel 5:11). Someone who truly has the Holy Spirit indwelling them will be humble (most of the time at least - if they get proud, which born-again Christians can still do sometimes, God will chasten them). A person with a haughty spirit, however, is very seldom a child of God. (If a saved Christian gets haughty, God will soon deal with them.) Some of the haughtiest people around may well be professing Christians, but in nearly every case they will be false converts. 

    There are all kinds of ways in which a haughty person can "come a cropper". Haman for instance had to honour the man he despised. Goliath, the man who trusted in his mighty weapons and thought no one could defeat him, was felled by a simple slingshot. Another example of someone with a haughty spirit was the Pharaoh of the early part of Exodus, the one who made all the Israelites living in Egypt slaves. When Moses and Aaron told him of God's command to let His people go, the haughty Pharoah responded, "And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go." (Exodus 5:2) And what was the outcome of Pharoah's haughtiness? A succession of fearful plagues, the departure of the Israelites and ultimately, the loss of the entire Egyptian army. It was the fall of a mighty empire that never rose to the same heights again. If Pharaoh had chosen to be humble and released the Israelites at the first time of the asking, the history of Egypt could have been very different and far happier.

    In our modern day, there are numerous examples of people who thought too highly of themselves suffering a fall of one sort or another. Often, this fall will be from grace as some secret sin or other is brought to light. Sometimes, you might see a news story about someone who got a bit too cocky about something and suffered a major setback or serious injury. For example, I once watched a video about a pilot who was warned several times about bad weather where he was going, and told that he should not fly into the area where the bad weather was. But in his pride, he thought he would be able to get out of trouble if he flew into poor conditions. Well sure enough, he did fly into some very poor visibility in tricky terrain. Forced to fly at lower and lower altitudes to see anything, he eventually crashed into some trees, and that was the end of both his flight and his life. If only that pilot had listened to the weather warnings and chosen to either not fly or fly somewhere else with better weather, he might still be alive today. But because he was proud and haughty enough to think he knew better, he ended up in a literal fall from the sky and with destruction of his aircraft and life.

    Many people are like that pilot in that they refuse to listen to warnings from the Bible. In their pride and haughtiness, they think, like the Pharaoh, "Who is God, anyway?" They think they know better than Him, and so refuse to repent and be saved. But their lofty attitudes will lead to a great and terrible fall: "And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." (Isaiah 13:11)

    The proud are on the broad way to destruction, while the humble (who are saved) are on the narrow road to eternal life. The haughty will eventually fall in one way or another. If you don't want to be humbled, humble yourself in repentance towards God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to save your wicked soul. Pride and wickedness go together like a hand in a glove. And they ultimately result in the greatest fall of all - the final fall into Hell after death.

Pride Month Day 4: God Hates Pride

     In this world, pride is exalted as a virtue. "Be proud of who you are!" is a regular refrain. A message the homosexual community has certainly taken to heart as they celebrate not only their wicked lifestyle, but also their pride. Then you have those groups who rail against homosexuals and hold up banners with signs like "God Hates Fags!". We've all seen them on the news from time to time. Well I would like to inform both groups that in fact, God Hates Pride. Not only the homosexuals' pride, but also the pride of those who despise them. (Calling homosexuals to repentance is not a sin and in fact we need a lot more of that, but despising them and acting all "holier-than-thou" towards them is sin.) Which leads me on to the main verse for Day 4 of Pride Month:

    "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." (Proverbs 8:13)

     Two days ago, we saw the Word of God reveal that wicked people won't seek God because of their pride. However, those who fear the Lord, and who have been born again through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, develop a hatred for evil. And with that comes a hatred of the things God hates, such as pride and arrogance. God hates pride in all its forms. He hates the pride of the homosexuals in their abominable sin, the pride of the false converts who despise homosexuals and other sinners, the pride of the racists who despise people of a different skin colour, the pride of the "woke" who think themselves far superior to those whom they classify as "bigots", the pride of those who think they are saved by their works, the pride of bullies who pick on those they deem weaker than themselves, the pride of the super athlete in his prowess, the pride of the intellectual in his cleverness, and so on and so forth. Whatever the reason people may have for being proud and puffed up, God hates it. Pride leads directly to arrogance in most cases, and as we can see, God hates that too. Following evil ways and speaking with a froward mouth are two things very often rooted in pride. The word froward, incidentally, means things like disobedient, peevish, ungovernable or unyielding. So it is mainly to do with defiance, and as often as not, defiance stems from pride.

     While the lost have a great deal of pride (which is a major obstacle to them being saved), born-again Christians are not always immune from pride either. It is one of the characteristics of our old man, in other words our old nature, which we are required to "put off" (think of it as something like changing clothes - in order to say, change into nightwear, first you have to take off your day clothes - likewise, to "put on" the new nature God gives after salvation, you have to "put off" the old nature that still resides in the sinful flesh of each and every one of us). And when we give in to pride, God is not pleased with us.

    You may wonder why God hates pride so much. Well, God is completely righteous and holy, but He has no pride within Him. I'll tell you who does have pride though, and a whole lot of it: the Enemy, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan. In his inordinate pride, Satan wants to usurp God. His rebellious agenda is laid out by the prophet Isaiah:

    "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Isaiah 14:12)

    All those "I will" statements sum up the extent of Satan's pride. Now contrast that with the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh and God the Son within the Godhead:

    "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." (Matthew 11:29)

    "For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth." (Luke 22:27)

    "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5:30) 

    "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:5-8)

     See the contrast? Satan, a created angel, is proud and ambitious. But Jesus, who created all things, is HUMBLE. When He lived on earth as a man, He was meek, lowly and served others rather than demanding to be served. Such was our Lord's humility that He even washed His disciples' feet, a job normally reserved for the very lowest servants.

    The passage in Philippians tells us that we need to have a mind as Christ did, and that means we need to be humble. We need to crucify our pride that makes us seek our own glory rather than God's. But humility does not come naturally to us due to the sinful bodies we still inhabit, which is why there are numerous commands in the Bible to humble ourselves. In other words, we must choose to be humble. We must consciously lay aside our pride and choose humility. Because if we allow ourselves to indulge in pride, other sins like arrogance and speaking with a froward mouth are sure to follow.

    Not once does God ever use the word "proud" in relation to Himself. When Christ came to earth as a man, this is what God the Father said about Him:

    "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17) 

    Does the Father say, "This is my beloved Son, and I am just so proud of him?" No, He does not! He says "in whom I am well pleased". Being pleased with someone does not equate to being proud of them. A parent might be pleased with a child for doing a daily chore, but probably won't be proud of them because it's just an everyday task that is expected of the child. In fact, quite often when parents are proud of children, it is because the child has done something that reflects well on the parent, or they like to bask in some reflected glory. Also, when Jesus commends those who have served Him well, He does not say, "Well done, I'm really proud of you!" No, instead He will say this: "Well done thou good and faithful servant ... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (see for instance Matthew 25:21). 

    To sum up then, God hates pride because in His righteousness and holiness, He is humble. Satan however is full of pride, and consequently pride characterises fallen man too. The more pride someone has in their heart, the more wicked they are likely to be. Pride is one of the biggest barriers between God and His fallen creation. And the pride is all on our side, not His. Those who are lost need to set aside their pride and repent of their sins towards God, while those who are saved need to eliminate pride from our lives as far as possible. Let us have the mindset that John the Baptist did: "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30) Let us learn to hate our pride as much as God hates it. Only when we hate our pride can we start to love God and love our neighbour as we ought.